Though my car had black diplomatic license plates, a young PLA soldier abruptly stopped me near Tiananmen Square as I was surveying the damage left by the June 4 onslaught by tanks and troops. The soldier chambered a round in his AK-47 automatic rifle. The distinct click of that bullet being loaded is a sound I will never forget.

This is a year of China anniversaries -- the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, the 20th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms and establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China, and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. At these times of rememberance, the United States should take a lesson from such anniversaries and pursue U.S. interests by engaging China firmly, at home and abroad.

Engaging China firmly at home requires a working domestic political consensus on China. It means separating flaws in execution of China policy from worthwhile China policy objectives. Whether espionage or campaign finance, the administration best protects U.S. interests by recognizing errors and correcting them. To do otherwise only undermines and discredits its worthwhile China objectives. In Beijing recently, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reaffirmed the United States will never apologize for speaking or publishing the truth. This is essential if we are to pursue our interests with China firmly.

Engaging China firmly abroad requires asserting U.S. interests without assuming China is destined to become an adversary. It means neither threatening to make China a new enemy nor granting China special favors as we work through the trio of current issues before the two countries -- China's admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO), missile defense, and relations between China and Taiwan.

It is time for China to join the WTO on terms beneficial to both China's trading partners and to China. Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who arrives in this country today, may sign a basic framework agreement on China's WTO accession during his visit. But growing economic and political turmoil in China, caused by the very sort of free-market reforms favored by the WTO, may make it challenging for China to keep its part of the bargain.

President Clinton and Congress must also sign off on any WTO package. Both those parties have yet to be convinced that China deserves status as a favored trading partner. Leaders in Washington should wait for clear signs that China will abide by its trade commitments, and ensure that the United States will have effective recourse if China does not.

Regarding missile defense, the recent overwhelming votes in Congress to move forward with national missile defense underscores the U.S. intent to protect itself from limited ballistic missile attack and to help allies and friends do so as well. Firmly engaging China in the pursuit of this U.S. interest means building up U.S. strategic defenses and helping allies and friends while reminding Beijing that such defensive systems do not threaten China. The United States should pursue longstanding Asia-Pacific commitments by deepening security ties with Japan, Korea, and others while still reassuring Beijing.

On the delicate matter of relations between China and Taiwan, Washington's interest centers on maintaining an "equilibrium of confidence" so that both sides can determine the pace and scope of their mutual interaction peacefully.

Such equilibrium should not mean supporting the status quo. The United States should reject any use of force to change Taiwan's status, discourage Taiwan independence, and leave Beijing and Taipei to create the positive conditions necessary to entice peaceful unification. The U.S. has already set useful limits for those who might engage in threatening behavior on either side of the Taiwan Strait.

Keeping our eye on the larger objective of holding China accountable for its commitments on trade, nonproliferation, and human rights will help maintain needed perspective. We owe it to ourselves to engage China firmly as part of securing a peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific. Clearly this would be preferable to any repeat of that memory that still follows me from Beijing, the sound of the bullet in the chamber, the click of the AK-47.